Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (30 page)

Lifting her upward, he buried his face in the curve between her neck and shoulder, and Roni locked her legs around his waist, above his hips. He could feel the tip of his erection reaching for her, straining for her secret depths. He wanted to dive into her rich heat. Dive and be reborn inside that fragrant, dark corridor.

"Thomas." Her voice barely grazed his ear. Her lips caressed his hair. A second later, he felt her move in his arms right before she shifted her hips. Before he knew what was happening, he was aware of his penis gradually sinking into a fiery tightness that stole his sanity.

DeGrassi's knees buckled as his body accepted hers.

Accepted, then demanded more. His back hit the wall of the shower, and slowly he slid down until he was sitting in the tub enclosure as Roni began a rhythmic undulation over him.

Pulling out, she then forced him in further and further with each movement, pumping him with her body, sliding his taut erection through her spicy wetness. Her nipples were sharp 415

little points scraping his chest as her breasts bounced erotically.

He couldn't move, or react other than to let her work him.

He knew he had died long ago. There was no other way he could explain the absolute bliss in feeling himself inside her, still rock solid and straining for release. Pleasure ripped through him, scraping over nerves that had never before felt the inside of a woman, or experienced such soul-shredding perfection.

In his arms he felt Roni shudder as her knees clasped his thighs. She was moving up and down, riding him, working him. Opening his eyes, he could see the intense fire running through her the same way it was consuming him. Her head was tilted back, her eyes shut, and every muscle was poised on the brink of something he had only dreamed about. He kept his hands around her waist and helped her to pump him, jack-hammering her over his manhood that rose like a turgid, flushed pole from between his legs.

A high, thin wail keened in her throat. Her hands, which had been resting on his shoulders, now curled into tight fists.

Her movements were becoming jerkier as she neared her precipice, but DeGrassi could sense her weariness. She was close to coming, but her body was also beginning to give out on her. Leaning back slightly, he readjusted his hands at her hips and increased the pace. Roni cried out as he took over and claimed total possession of her.

Her body was tightening around him, forcing him to nearly ram her onto him. He never wanted this moment to end. But at the same time, he prayed he could hold on long enough to 416

empty himself into her. His release had to match hers. There could be no other ending to this fierce, excruciating ecstasy that was tearing through him.

God, she was shaking uncontrollably. The inner walls of her silken tunnel were literally rippling with her coming climax.

Suddenly, lightning shot through him, from the ends of his feet and top of his head. It met in the pit of his groin and exploded out through his dick. DeGrassi yelled and slammed Roni down over him. Her body flamed, then rocketed. She shrieked as her release flared brighter than any star. And still he continued to pound into her.

Wave after wave broke over them as the sensations continued to race through their bodies, spiking like gouts of scorching lava. Gradually the peaks lessened and slowed, until Roni finally leaned over to nestle on top of his heaving chest, her head resting against his neck. Instinctively, DeGrassi curled possessive arms around her. The shower, now slightly cooler, felt refreshing. But it wouldn't take long before it would turn icy, and that wasn't something DeGrassi was looking forward to. With a little effort, he lifted his foot and shut off the water with his toes.

He was still inside her. That simple feat boggled his mind.

He had remained turgid inside a woman's body, had made love to her, and had managed to climax without any complications. Without any loss of erection. Maybe that one doctor he had laughed at had been right all along. It really had been a simple matter of finding the right woman to to cure him.

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Yes, he was still inside her. And—miracle of miracles—he could feel the faint stirrings of another erection trembling through him. In another few minutes, he would be just as hard and heavy as ever. Ready to go. Ready to pleasure her.

Ready to hear her screams of release as she tightened over him like a vise of burning satin.

But not here. Not in the tub again. At least not again in the immediate future.

A grin stole across his face as DeGrassi lightly ran a hand over the small plates down the center of her back. He felt her shiver at his touch.

"Roni?"

"What?" Her voice was small and breathless. The ghosts of happy tears watered her words.

"I love you."

A tiny giggle tickled his chin. "I know."

"Explain to me again how we'll know we're true bond mates?"

"We'll both have our first real orgasms."

His eyes batted open. "For real?" He cocked his head, trying to look down at her, but failed. "That was your first orgasm?"

He knew the truth before she could reply. Hadn't she told him all her previous joinings had been fruitless? And the hooking—those had been nothing more than jobs.

Emotionless as well as sensationless.

"Mmm." She moved slightly, and his erection went instantly into full alert status. He felt her tighten around him.

Loosen. Tighten. Loosen. She was playing with him.

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"Then you know it was my first one inside a woman, too,"

he admitted softly.

"I know."

"You knew I have an erectile dysfunction?"

"Had, t'kor. You had it."

Had it. DeGrassi paused before correcting her. He had had E.D. The grin grew into an enormous smile. Holy shit! No more short and sweet!

He suddenly lifted her off of him. His half-erect penis slid out of her with a moist, smacking sound. Roni gave a small, disappointed cry as he scrambled to his feet. Throwing back the shower curtain, he grabbed the huge bath sheet she had laid on top of the toilet seat and began to dry them both off.

"Wh-what are you doing, Thomas?" She stared at him as he toweled his hair, then tossed the sheet back onto the toilet. A second later, she erupted into gales of laughter as he swept her up into his arms and marched her back into the bedroom, tossing her onto the mussed bed.

"Now we're going to do it the right way," he announced, swooping down on top of her.

"Are you telling me we did it wrong the first time?" Roni managed to gasp around her giggles.

"Wrong place. I want you here in bed where I can explore you. I want to learn every inch of you. That's my right." He tried to dip down to where her dark, rose-pink nipples jutted upward, taunting him.

"Your right?" She cradled his face between her hands and forced him to look at her. "Your right?"

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"Yeah, my right," DeGrassi told her bluntly. "My right as your bond mate and husband."

Roni blinked. "Husband?"

"It's a given, woman. Now, tell me what feels good. I gotta taste you again, or I'll go stark raving mad," he demanded, and he lowered his mouth over one of those tempting, puckered points.

He felt her melting under his assault.

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His tongue was making little swirly patterns all over her breasts. Roni opened her eyes to find her life partner alternating between sniffing her and tasting her as he made his way down her body.

"I take it you like them," she whispered, her voice husky with pleasure. The second time they had made love had been as frenetic as the first time, with little foreplay and another deliriously explosive orgasm that had thrown her entire body into a form of satiated shock. Neither of them had been aware of when they had fallen into an exhausted sleep. She had awakened to the feel of him mapping her out like a tasty geographic puzzle.

DeGrassi slanted a glance at her. His light blue eyes were as clear as a fresh summer day, and the grin creasing the corner of his mouth was just as endearing. "I can't get over how delicious you taste."

"Like maple syrup?"

"Mmm. Better than that. I can't get enough of you."

"Let's hope you never do," she teased, when he stopped abruptly and plunged an index finger into her navel. A sizzling electrical current shot straight to her womb, making her,

"Eek!" in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"You have an 'innie.'"

"That's a phrase I haven't heard before," she started to tell him when he suddenly plunged his tongue into the tight 421

dimple and began to pump it. She made a small cooing noise as the rush of heat gushed over her deepest recesses, making her inner thighs slick from her response. "Thomas!" Tired or not, her body continued to ache for his.

He chuckled. The vibrations racing over her skin only made matters worse.

"Thomas, stop!"

"You want me to stop?"

She opened her eyes again to see him looking down at her, still with that playful smile on his face. "Well, no, but..."

"But you're a bit sore at the moment," he concluded for her. Without needing further explanation, DeGrassi scooted down the bed and rested his cheek upon her stomach. Roni felt his breath puff across her lower abdomen. His scratchy beard tickled something fierce. If he kept this delightful torment up, they would be right back at frantically trying to quench their thirst for each other again. And soon.

"And you're not?" she teased. She reached down to touch his thick head of hair and run her talons through it, to gently massage his scalp with her nail tips. He had commented earlier that he was amazed at how versatile her hands could be with her razor-like appendages.

His shoulders shook slightly with his laughter. "I feel like I've just extricated myself from the world's mightiest suction pump," he admitted. "Hell, yeah, I'm sore, but ask me if I'm ready to go again." To prove his point, he lightly ran his own fingers down and inside her thigh, barely skimming the surface. It didn't take him long to figure out where she was 422

ticklish, where she could be turned on, and how to turn those ticklish spots into their own erogenous zones.

However, the pressure on her belly was reminding her of nature's call. She started to move off the bed when DeGrassi rolled over to look at her. "Where're you going?"

"I have to go to the bathroom," Roni replied impishly. "I also think a wet washcloth is in order. I'm sticky."

He groaned in mock irritation. "Well, make it quick, woman. I'm not spending another minute alone in bed without you."

Giggling, she hurried to do what she had to do. When she reentered the bedroom, she found him propped up against the headboard, waiting for her. Roni stopped in mid-stride to stare at him. "What?" she asked.

The sheet was draped provocatively across his lap, partially exposing his growing length. His corded arms and wide chest still sparkled slightly with perspiration. His shoulders begged to be kissed. He also had a goofy smile on his face. The room was thick with the sweet juicy blend of lemonade and banana scents. And over it all floated the fragile papery smell of their sated passions.

"Just ... thinking."

"About what?" She started to crawl back into bed when she noticed the shredded bottom sheet and the mattress beneath it. "Oh, crap."

DeGrassi let out a loud bark of laughter. "You don't remember doing that?"

Yes, she did. Vaguely. It had been during her last orgasm.

Dimly she seemed to remember how her body had reacted 423

with such intensity that she had dug her hands into the bedding. Much to her chagrin. It meant she would have to replace the mattress with a new one, not to mention new sheets.

She lifted her knee to crawl into bed to join him when her stomach rumbled. No wonder she felt weak. Subjecting your bond mate to repeated bone-melting orgasms took calories.

Pausing with one leg on the mattress, she grinned at him.

"Hey, I'm hungry. When was the last time you ate?"

"Honestly? When we had breakfast yesterday morning."

"That long?"

He gave a slight shrug. Those ripped muscles under his skin just screamed for her attention. "Damn paperwork had me snowed under. Which reminds me..." Throwing back the covers, DeGrassi slid out of bed and strode into the bathroom, but not before lovingly touching her cheek as he passed her by. She watched the wriggle in his rear as he retreated.

"I'm going to fix us something to eat," she announced and exited for the kitchen. She had to get out of there before she jumped him and made him take her right there on the little rug in front of the sink.

The small, sunlit room felt unusually cheery this morning.

Although the clock told her it was long past breakfast and nudging closer to lunch time, she pulled the carton of eggs from the refrigerator, along with butter, cheese, and a few other additives. She was setting them on the counter when her bond mate entered the room with his cell phone glued to 424

his ear. As she started their omelets, she listened in on his conversation.

"Yeah? Okay. Listen, tell Tayson I'll tail Tarakon in case that sicko tries to go over there."

Roni gave him a wide-eyed stare. He motioned for her silence.

"I see. Yeah, I tried, but it went straight to voice mail.

Same for his partner. Okay. Okay. I gotcha. All right. I'll check in later. Right. Thanks, Larry. 'Bye." Closing the cell, DeGrassi gave her a worried look.

"Bad news?"

"It appears that way. That Cowven fella over at the employment agency? Evan and Wade went over to question him, but the guy never showed up for work this morning. The director at the agency was nice enough to give them access to his office. They searched his computer and found a list of his clientele without them having to resort to a search warrant." DeGrassi's lips thinned with consternation. "All four of our victims were on that list."

Roni felt a chill come over her. "Then he's the Cutter?"

"We can't say for certain, Roni, unless we can link him directly to at least one of the murders. But right now we have enough probable cause to search his house. That's where the guys are right now. Thanks to you, honey, we may have cracked this case."

He laid the phone on the counter and walked over to where she was beating eggs with a whisk. They were both naked and comfortable, despite the fact that they were 425

relatively new lovers. But that was the way of life partners.

Their closeness and immediate rapport was to be expected.

"I'm fixing myself an omelet with cheese and mushrooms.

How would you like yours?"

Coming up behind her, he snaked his arms around her waist, pulled her back against him, and dropped a kiss onto her shoulder. "No meat, huh? No chance for a little ham?"

"Sorry. But that'll change." She slowly shook her head as she poured half of the mixture into the prepared pan on the range. "We have a lot to talk about."

"No fooling. You got onions?" At her nod, DeGrassi said,

"Make mine with cheese and onions, then." He let her go to open the fridge. "I don't suppose you have any coffee in the house?"

"Cabinet above the dishwasher."

"Coffee maker?"

"Pantry."

He got the coffee going, then found two mugs. "You drink yours with sugar and cream, right?"

She flashed him a smile. "Good memory, Lieutenant."

Turning back to the omelet, she slid one onto a plate before pouring the second one into the pan. When she heard no noise coming from behind her, Roni turned around to find him staring at her pensively. The tangy scent of lemons hung in the air. "What's rolling around in that head of yours, t'kor?"

"That's the second time you've called me that. What is it?

A love name?"

"It's what we call our bond mates. If you wanted to, you would call me t'korra."

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"T'korra. I like that." His expression suddenly darkened, and the scent of his loving admiration changed into worry.

"Listen, before we start making some changes, we need to get a more immediate problem addressed."

"Which is..."

"Keeping you safe."

Roni snorted. "Surely you don't think Cowven is going to try to come after me?" Waggling a deadly looking hand at him, she made her point clear. DeGrassi shook his head.

"That's not quite what I meant, honey. I know you can probably take care of yourself a lot better than I could. No, it's the very real threat of other people finding out about you that worries me." His eyes swept over her ripe figure. "You've managed to keep your real self a secret for this long. It would tear me apart if I managed to blow your cover by something I did or said."

She added cheese and chopped onion to the pan and flipped his omelet over. "So what do you propose we do?"

"Get you out of here," he replied almost immediately.

"You mean ... out of my house?" The thought of losing her precious sanctuary near the woods put her in an instant funk.

"I was rather hoping we could live here ... together."

She was scooping his omelet onto a plate when he walked over and placed his hand under her chin, lifting her face.

DeGrassi bent and brushed his mouth over hers.

"Trust me. I'll find us a place with all the trees you could ever want. But I meant not just here. I meant out of this city.

If Cowven's our man, but we can't get enough to indict him, I don't want you anywhere he can get his hands on you. Those 427

pretty little talons might help you deflect a knife, but they can't deflect bullets, and that's what I'm afraid he might resort to. Especially if he sees you as Ruinos." Taking the plate from her hand, he sauntered over to the table, leaving her to pull the toast from the toaster.

They ate in silence. Roni's eyes roamed over the kitchen area of the little cottage. She had put her heart and soul into renovating the place after discovering the original owners planned to demolish it so they could sell the land at a better price. It had been a hard sell to convince the Porters she was willing to update the place if they would just give her the chance. But after much pleading, and because she had promised to shoulder the full cost of rebuilding, they had decided to rent the cottage to her at a very reasonable rate.

After four years of toil, she still wasn't finished. Now it looked as though she never would be able to make this the dream house she had always wanted.

"I know you dread leaving this place, t'korra," DeGrassi said finally. His use of the endearment warmed her despite her sadness. "Trust me."

"I do. I also trust in the fact that you'll do whatever it'll take to make us both happy." She warmed her hands around the mug of coffee. "As long as we're together, I don't care where we go."

"No more hooking." It was a flat, no-argument statement.

Roni gave a little laugh. "Definitely no more hooking. I'll have to start thinking of how I'm going to earn an honest paycheck." She heard him let out a deep sigh. A tentative 428

sniff gave her a scent she wasn't familiar with. It smelled a bit salty.

"Roni, we have to talk. I need to get a few things cleared up for me. Just me. Understand?"

DeGrassi leaned over to take her mug from her hands.

Getting up, he went over to refill both cups.

With his back to her, he brought up the subject she realized he had been wanting to broach for quite a while.

"When you were hooking ... when you let your johns have you..."

One of the wonderful things about bonding with her life partner was being able to determine his needs and find solutions to his problems before they arose. "T'kor, have you ever worn gloves?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her as he was adding sweetener to their mugs. "Yeah."

"When you wear gloves, can you feel things as clearly as if your hands were bare?"

"Depends on the glove. If it's thick, no."

"What if you got something on your gloves? Would your skin come in contact with it? Say, like water or blood?" She watched him shake his head. Roni waited for him to take his seat before continuing.

"My second skin, when I shape-shift, it fits me like a glove.

It doesn't come off or rub off, or wrinkle or tear. I mean, it'll tear, but I'll bleed just like you would. My blood is red like yours, which is a blessing. But, Thomas, when I am human looking, and I take on a job, if the john wants intercourse, he screws the glove. Not me. Never me."

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His eyebrows lowered, but his gaze never wavered. Never chilled. He trusted her completely, and he was listening.

"Are you saying that if you and I were to make love when you were in your human form, that you wouldn't feel anything? Nothing would touch you? Even if I ejaculated?"

She couldn't stop the tiny smile from escaping her. "Not unless I wished it."

This surprised him. "Sooo, what are you saying? That you can change parts of you? That you don't have to change all of you when you shift?"

"Right." She nodded. "If I had on an outfit that covered all of my body except for, say, my head and hands, I could shift just my head and hands and not the rest of me. Of course, I would have to remain that way until nightfall, but you get the idea."

"Then you felt nothing when those guys were inside you?"